Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles
In 2016, Vientiane hosted the ASEAN summit. For Laos — a country that carries deep historical wounds from the most heavily bombed period in the history of warfare — receiving a sitting American president for the first time was an event of extraordinary national significance.
For LAODI, it turned out to be something unexpected: a turning point.
The Call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
A few weeks before the summit, Inoue received a phone call from the Laotian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The request was simple and stunning: would LAODI set up a booth at the official venue?
This was followed by direct contact from the Foreign Minister himself. The message was clear: the government considered LAODI to represent Laos on this stage. As a rum made entirely from Laotian sugarcane, by a company legally registered as Laotian, it embodied what the country could produce.
The venue was operating under American-level security. Electronic detection equipment had been shipped in from the United States. Mobile phone signals inside the building were jammed to prevent remote detonation. NHK — Japan’s national broadcaster — couldn’t get press access. Yet LAODI’s team, invited by the Laotian government, was inside.
The Moment That Became a Story
When the Japanese Prime Minister appeared at the venue, one of LAODI’s team members — overwhelmed with the surreal reality of the situation — called out his name at the top of their lungs, as if at a football match.
The Prime Minister’s security detail and embassy officials descended immediately, baffled that an ordinary Japanese person was inside this restricted space. The LAODI team had to explain that they were there as an official Laotian invite.
Inoue tells the story with laughter now. At the time, the situation was slightly more delicate.
What Followed
The ASEAN summit exposure gave LAODI a level of recognition that no amount of marketing could have purchased. Heads of state and ministers from across the region encountered the rum. Official orders from the Laotian government began arriving — LAODI bottles became the country’s formal diplomatic gift to foreign visitors.
The world’s only rum-specialist publication, Rum Porter, heard about the story and sent a journalist to Laos. The resulting feature — with Inoue photographed holding sugarcane in his fields — generated enquiries from distributors across Europe. A French agent made contact, and Inoue and Sihata found themselves navigating the Paris metro with sample bottles, staying in Airbnb attic rooms, and presenting LAODI at exhibitions in Paris and London.
The distillery that had once barely survived its first years was now at the table with the rum-producing nations of the Caribbean.
LAODI is available at Bar Little Happiness, Hiroshima. Read the full Japanese column: little-happiness.jp/columns/laodi-distillery-visit-vol2/
Bar Little Happiness | Hiroshima, Japan
Rum & Whisky specialists | 1,000+ bottles | English menu available
Open Mon–Sat 7PM–12:30AM, Sun 7PM–midnight
No cover charge. Walk-ins welcome.
english.little-happiness.jp